Dr. Marcia Brenden has been an educator for her entire professional career. After starting her own Montessori School in Dixon, NM in 1981, Dr. Brenden continued her education and earned her doctorate in Education and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 2000. She returned to her native state of New Mexico to work with the Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations of New Mexico Highlands University as a teacher educator and coordinator of the ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities for Education) and GEAR UP programs. She also served as the first Regional Director for AVID – a college preparatory program for first generation college-going students in local high schools.

Currently Dr. Brenden is a Senior Associate with the Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations at New Mexico Highlands University. Previously she served as the Post Baccalaureate Program Developer in the College of Education of Northern New Mexico College in Española. She also teaches college classes in her areas of expertise including bilingual and multicultural education, linguistics, culturally responsive teaching and leading, and English Language Learners.

Dr. Brenden has presented at numerous professional conferences and served on the NM ENLACE Statewide College and Career Counseling task force. She has also collaborated in developing and publishing Drawing From the Well — a place-based curricular guide — as well as a series of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading online learning modules. She is published in (2005) Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practice in Households, Communities, and Classrooms. Dr. Brenden continues to live in her home of many years in Dixon, NM.